


Papa

by MilayaMilenZeal



Series: Long Live the Queen [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Forced Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Past Promptis, Post-Game, Pushy Iris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 15:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9826712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: M.E. 773Iris’ words are like a jackhammer to his heart… but he knows she has a point. He just wishes he didn’t have to… and just wishes his daughter wasn’t reacting so violently to it…





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was GOING to do the introduction of the "fourth wheel", but this just came up and wouldn't go away.

Prompto’s always known the subject would come up eventually… has tried to prepare himself for whenever… well, whoever decided to bring it up, brought it up. Turns out, Iris had decided it to be vitally important and, in a way, he could understand her point of view, but at the same time, he’s _not_ looking forward to it.

“Regina needs a _mother_ , Prompto.”

Four words… that’s all. And yet Prompto feels as if those words have condemned him. It’s difficult to put into words, but the words hurt. As much as he’d tried to move on, tried to make a family with someone else, there’s just never been anyone out there able to fill the gap that had been left behind after…

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Iris… I know you’re worried, but…”

“No buts! The poor girl needs more than just you, Prompto,” Iris pointed out. “You know we’d help whenever, but she needs some female motivation in her life, too.”

“Doesn’t she get that from you, Cindy and Aranea, though?”

“You _know_ what I mean!”

Of course he does… he’s not stupid, but he doesn’t _want_ to admit to it. Because it would mean he’d have to give up a piece of himself, to give Regina something she undoubtedly needed. Sure, he’s done plenty of that already, but _this_ … he wasn’t sure if he was prepared to give _this_ up…

“I’ll… think about it.”

That seems to please Iris, as the subject is then dropped for the time being. He doesn’t bring it up around Regina yet; he doesn’t know how she’ll react to the news or just the prospect, really. For the bigger part, he just tries to move on as normal and make it seem like there’s nothing wrong. And for the majority of the time, he manages just fine and he’s able to not think on it…

But when he’s reading her a story one day before bedtime, he notices how her eyes seem particularly drawn to the family that the story is about… or more accurately, the two parents.

“…Sweetie?” he asks when the story ends and she’s cuddling under the blankets.

“Yeah…?” She sounds hesitant, he notices, as if she’s catching onto his own hesitation.

“…Are you happy with me?” he asks, trying not to sound _too_ desperate.

Her eyes widen, almost comically so, and the little six-year-old looks like a dear caught in the headlights of a car. “Did… did I something bad?” she asks worriedly.

“ _No!_ No, sweetie, of course not,” Prompto assures her, and he curses himself for formulating the question so poorly. “I just…” He can’t bring himself to say what he wants to say, because the very idea _hurts_. “I just want to be sure you’re happy… I don’t want you to be sad, okay?”

“I’m not sad,” Regina says innocently, but the words mean the world to him when she smiles and adds: “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, princess,” Prompto murmurs as he lightly kisses her forehead. “Do you want me to leave the hall light on?”

“I’m okay, Daddy.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Good night.”

“Good night.”

He leaves her room then, leaves the door open, and, with a hint of hesitation, he flicks the hall light off before he moves into his own room for his own rest. He isn’t going to sleep right away, because he has a lot to think about. And he knows there’s only one way to do that properly

He goes to his bookcase, mostly empty except for some heavy photograph albums, and take a very particular album from the second shelf. He goes to his bed, sits down on the edge, and flips it open. The pictures are well-preserved through the magic of plastic, and they haven’t lost their colors (yet), and this helps him to think back… to a time when things were so much easier.

Prompto smiles at the photo of their group of four in front of the Regalia (god, he _did_ miss the old girl…) just at the start of their journey. Cindy had taken the shot for them, one of the few times he ever let someone else touch his camera. He’d only let her because he’d trusted her to be gentle with it. The pictures that follow list their whole journey from Hammerhead chronologically, to Galdin Quay, to Lestallum, and across the many, many dungeons in search for the Royal Tombs before they left for Altissia…

He stops at a picture of them dealing with the haunted painting in the depths of Altissia, running his fingers along the picture, having captured Noctis just after he had finished warp striking the spiritual apparition. There was a light, blue glow surrounding him, making him seem almost more ethereal than the spirit they’d been fighting. He loved these kinds of pictures; the ones where he could catch just the hint of magic thrumming through Noctis, visible even in the still images he’d made…

“ _Hey… this one’s pretty good._ ”

Prompto shuts his eyes and breathes heavily, and then closes the album. Thinking about the past hurt much more than it probably should, but Prompto can’t help it; 16 years just isn’t enough for him to forget about the lifetime of fun he’s had with the once-crown prince of Insomnia, now King… even if he isn’t here to formally accept or even appreciate the title. Everyone knew of him now; the Chosen King who had given up everything to save them… given up his life to bring back the dawn…

But no one _knew_ Noctis the way Prompto once did…

They only knew Noctis as the confident man who could do anything and never faltered. They didn’t know the times that Noctis was unsure… a trembling mess in the back of the car when the news of Insomnia falling fully dawned on him… or of the anger and hurt he felt when he learned of his father’s death, and that _he_ had barely escaped the same death, only because he was sent by his own father to go to Altissia.

No one knew of Noctis’ past… no one knew what he was _really_ like…

He stands up and puts the album away. He’s never had the guts to go all the way through the album; he fears he’ll break down in a mess of tears and broken sobs, thinking about his lost friend, and he can’t have that anymore. There were times when he would have done that, but he can’t do this anymore.

Not with Regina so close down the hall.

He takes out another album, a smaller one, but already it’s almost half entirely filled. He flips through it for a moment, lingering on a few precious memories and he smiles as he looks at the smiling girl in the photo, sometimes joined by a few of his friends, but mostly with himself or alone. Any picture he sees of her, it instantly brings a smile to his face, even if she isn’t smiling because she’s curious about something and furrowing her little brows with her hand to her mouth to try and figure out what she’s seeing.

Her bright smiles have become less wide over the years, but it’s still a smile he can call ‘happy’ as she stands and smiles at the camera, one of her arms around the head of a Chocobo as it nuzzles her cheek. Or when she’s on his shoulders and they’re walking through Lestallum during the twilight. A very silly little ‘selfie’, but he just hadn’t had the heart to do away with it.

He doesn’t see what Iris seems to see; he doesn’t see a girl longing for a mother. He just sees a girl having the time of her life every step of the way…

But then he comes to one of the last pictures and he pauses.

It was a picture of Regina and Cindy, when Prompto had gone on a hunt with Gladio and Ignis near Hammerhead for some extra ingredients for Takka. It hadn’t been a long hunt, but when they came back, Regina was curled up on the bench outside of Cindy’s garage with her head on the blonde’s lap, sleeping peacefully.

And yet… there was a look on her face that… Prompto hadn’t even noticed before…

He can’t place it, but he knows he’s seen the look somewhere before… and then it hits him…

It was on Noctis’ face that he’d seen a similar look; the first night after they had learned of Insomnia’s fall. While he had slept in the tent that night, just outside of the Crown City’s walls, he’d had a similar look on his face as he slept, and Prompto hadn’t known what the look meant at first, but as he’d laid there, thinking, he realized…

Longing… regret… sadness… anger… all of that boiled into one… a mixture created from losing everything he’d ever known and all he wanted to have back so badly…

He hadn’t made a picture of it, then… but the look had stuck with him regardless… as if it was burned across the back of his eyelids…

He blinks, and he’s surprised when a tear rolls down his face, and Prompto quickly wipes it away. He breathes heavily, doing his best to hold the rest back as he closes the album and puts it away. As he goes to his bed and lies down, he can’t help but wonder if, maybe, Iris was right all along…

Prompto falls asleep that night thinking of his little girl…

He doesn’t want her making that face anymore… and he promises himself that he’ll do whatever if it means ensuring that his princess is happy…

 

Prompto confronts Iris on the matter before she can bring it up again, saying he’s prepared to try. She’s confused at frst, but then she smiles and exclaims she’s happy to hear that, and that she’s sure Regina will appreciate it as well before long. He hopes so, too, and hopes he can ensure that that look on Regina’s face will no longer appear.

They don’t actually tell Regina of it; Prompto because he isn’t entirely sure how to tell her, and Iris because she wants the transition to be as natural as possible, even though it would be somewhat forced on them both.

Iris introduces her to a friend of hers, and she’s nice enough, but Prompto isn’t sure if he’d be able to last the rest of his life with her. But this isn’t about _him_ , he reasons with himself; this is for Regina, and if it helps her, he’ll make the required sacrifice without looking back.

Regina seems confused when the woman greets them along with Prompto and Iris after she’s been out in Lestallum, looking for new friends, and while the woman’s nice enough to her, Regina doesn’t respond favorably. She doesn’t answer the woman and doesn’t shake her hand. Instead she goes around her in an arch and sticks close to Prompto, looking at her with a look that says clearly she’s displeased. She doesn’t talk to her unless she really has to, but Prompto chalks it up to him telling her not to speak to strangers, and he hopes she’ll warm up gradually.

But she doesn’t…

In fact, she only seems to be growing more and more resentful each time, despite the woman’s attempts to have her warm up to her. Eventually, Prompto decides to not continue the attempt any further, because Regina is completely against her.

Iris is a little upset about the failed attempt, of course, but she doesn’t give up. A week later, she has someone else lined for him. She’s nice, sure, and certainly not a bad person… but Regina is, again, not pleased.

In fact, she seems to be even more displeased than last time. She’s not saying anything, but it’s obvious that she’s now giving the woman a hard time on purpose. To make matters worse, she even starts wandering Lestallum for longer than she normally would whenever they’re there, and by the time night falls, she’s already waiting for them by the car, as she’s been there the whole time.

Another failed attempt, yet Iris is not deterred from her mission. This whole cycle continues for almost three months, but with every new woman, Regina becomes more and more vicious toward them. It might not have been obvious to most, but Prompto could tell that everything bad that was happening to the women—from frogs in their bags to simple things like their meals having far too much salt in them—was all due to Regina, if her small, sickly bemused smirks whenever the women reacted hysterically to them were any indication.

And the few who respond to these things with accusations and threats of hurting her if she continues are immediately cast out by Prompto, because he’s not going to stand for anyone threatening his little girl, even if she _did_ do something she (probably) shouldn’t have done. He would be the one to dish out a punishment if he thought she’d done something inexcusable… but in this case, he secretly wants to hug her for ensuring he doesn’t have to continue this charade any longer.

And Prompto realizes soon after that he has to stop this permanently… he can’t do this any further, because it’s become clear that Regina is violently against this. Much to Iris’ annoyance and dismay.

 

“You can’t be serious…!”

“I am, Iris,” Prompto says firmly. “In case you haven’t been paying attention, Regina hasn’t been reacting very well to this… I’m not going to put her through this any longer.”

Iris is glaring at him, obviously displeased. “Does she even know what this is about?!”

“That’s not important, Iris!”

“ _Of course it IS, Prompto!_ ” she insists sharply, and he jumps. “If you don’t tell her this is for her own good, _of course_ she’s gonna act cross over it! You need to tell her what it’s for!”

“Iris,” Ignis is saying then, speaking up from where he is sitting, finally speaking up about the whole thing that has been going on for much too long (in Prompto’s mind, anyway). “If she knew what this was about, there would be no natural bonding. She would likely force herself through it, which will only result in making her feel miserable.”

He wants to thank Ignis for the input but he leaves it for the moment; it can wait until Iris has been convinced that this isn’t working out the way she wants it to. He’s glad right now that Gladio has taken Regina for a run around the block for her training, because he doesn’t want her to hear how much her daddy’s arguing over their future right now. Because no matter what Iris says, this isn’t just about Regina; this is also about him.

He keeps trying to explain to Iris that this isn’t working, that it’s a bad idea and that it has to stop, and Ignis is helping him trying to explain, but Iris remains convinced that, in the end, Regina will come and see to reason. Prompto isn’t sure, and he keeps telling her this, because he _knows_ his little princess a lot better than Iris does, but her argument is that Iris knows what _girls_ want much better than him, and okay, he can’t argue with that, but, as Ignis points out, Regina certainly isn’t like most girls and it’s ridiculous to assume that all girls want the same things.

Prompto’s getting a headache from all this and he just wants to send Iris away, but he can’t because she’s waiting for Gladio to come back, and with how she’s going on and on, it sounds like she’s got every intention of informing Regina about what they’ve been trying to get her to ease up on things. And while Prompto knows that Iris will be civil with Regina for sure, he can’t help but fear that this is going to turn into an all-out war because he knows that girls can get into very nasty catfights, and he’s _not_ looking forward to that.

As much as he and Ignis try to argue their point, it’s no use, and they’re _still_ going when Gladio comes back with Regina on his back, since she’d likely exhausted herself somewhere halfway around (maybe earlier, but Prompto likes to give her a little bit more credit) and of course they’re both confused. Prompto still tries to convince Iris one last time to not do it as Gladio sets Regina down again, since she’s recovered enough already, but Iris doesn’t listen and approaches Regina and Prompto tries _so_ hard not to let his anxiety and his fear show on his face.

This can’t end well… there’s _no_ way this is going to end well!

“Say, Regina, honey?” Iris says, all sweet and honey despite the harsh words she’d just been throwing at him and Ignis, and he hears the blind man scoff slightly from the corner. “I have a question for you…”

Regina blinks, and she looks a bit confused, but then her eyebrows furrow and Prompto has a feeling that she already has her suspicions about what Iris’ question is about. She doesn’t act too different, though, and instead she asks simply: “What?”

“Well, sweetie, how would you like it if Daddy got you a Mommy?”

Oh. Em. Gee.

Prompto almost wants to smack Iris up the head for the FAR too direct question! The way she’s framing it would almost make it seem like it was _Prompto’s_ idea in the first place, when _she_ was the one who even brought it up! He’s trying to convey to Regina that he’s nothing to do with it, that it wasn’t his idea, from behind Iris’ back when the smaller girl looks at him with a surprised, almost shocked look on her face, but he isn’t sure if he’s able to get his point across as well. Though he certainly does hope so.

Her shock slowly fades away, though, and she’s frowning as she then turns to Iris.

“I don’t want one.”

Prompto’s sure he’s staring, but he’s even more sure that Iris is even more surprised, even if he can’t see her face.

“But sweetie—”

“ _I don’t want one!!_ ” Regina repeats with her lips curled back and her teeth ground together, an obvious display of anger. “I’m _fine_ without one!”

“Regina!” Iris says, a little firmer now. “Listen to me; we’re trying to—”

“ _I DON’T CARE!!!_ ” Regina suddenly screams, and Iris actually stumbles back onto her bum in surprise, and Prompto has to try very hard to contain his laughter because, yeah, she kind of deserved that. “I’m not dumb! I don’t need a mom! I don’t _want_ a mom! I’m just fine with Daddy here!!”

“Regina!!”

“ _I said I **don’t need a mom!!** _ Daddy and Papa are enough!!”

…

Silence follows her words, and it isn’t until the silence has gone on for almost a minute and everyone (who can) is staring at her that Regina’s eyes widen almost comically as she suddenly seems to realize what she’s just said. She tries to say something, but she’s unable to get anything out, and she eventually turns and runs, dashing up the stairs even when Prompto calls after her to wait, dashing across the hall before she disappears into her room, the door slamming shut behind her with an almost impossibly loud bang.

The silence continues for a long time, with no one quite sure how to break it, but everyone (or at least, Gladio and Iris…) is now staring at him in question, but he’s shaking his head, saying without words he doesn’t know what she meant.

And he doesn’t; there’s never been a moment that he can recall that he’s ever shown any real, romantic interest in anyone around Regina. Even when Regina wasn’t around, there just wasn’t anyone who’d been able to catch his eye (though he certainly hasn’t been expecting anyone to), least of all a _man_. In fact, he hasn’t even come around to teaching Regina that a relationship like that was totally okay, since he isn’t entirely sure how to even start that subject…

But he may just have to figure out soon, now…

 

Gladio eventually takes Iris home, and Ignis leaves with them, telling him to be gentle with Regina before he leaves, but really, he doesn’t need to be told that. Once everyone is gone, he takes a moment to breathe, though.

How does he do this…?

He spends a few moments just leaning against the door after everyone’s gone, forehead against the door’s material, before he turns and looks toward the door at the top of the stairs. He hasn’t heard a peep from Regina ever since she’s locked herself into her room, and that’s concerning. She’s never locked herself in her room like that before, and he’s worried that something may be seriously weighing on her mind if she believes this to be the only way to deal with it…

Prompto takes one more deep breath, mentally preparing himself for this, and then he starts up the stairs, slowly but loudly enough that Regina knows he’s coming up. He gives her time to prepare herself, too, because he’s sure she needs it too.

He stops in front of her door, breathes, and then he raises his hand and, after a moment of hesitation, he knocks, firmly but steadily. No reaction comes, but he knows she’s heard him.

“…Regina? Princess?” he calls out to her through the door. “Please open the door?”

No response, still, but he can just picture his little girl biting her lip, unsure if she should or if she should pretend to not have heard him.

“Sweetie, I’m not angry,” he reassures her gently. “But we need to talk, so please… open the door?”

He waits patiently, listening for any movement from the room. It takes a little, but he finally hears her moving around the room, and then the door clicks and slowly slides open. Prompto immediately crouches down to her level, even as she remains hiding a little behind the door.

“Hey, sweetie…” he murmurs softly, smiling at her.

“…a…am I in trouble…?” she almost squeaks out.

“No… no, sweetie, of course not… come here,” he murmurs, spreading out his arms.

Regina doesn’t waste the chance and she scampers forward and almost falls into his embrace, and he envelops her in his arms, holding her gently and running his fingers through her hair, shushing her softly. He doesn’t move for a moment, he merely holds her close tenderly, as he listens to her labored breathing as she tries so very hard not to cry. She doesn’t like to cry, never has, and she tries to hold it in as much as she can, and he’s both proud of her and worried that she might be holding everything in for too long. It’s why he often makes her talk about things that he _knows_ are bothering her…

He eventually gets up, still holding onto his little girl, and walks over to the edge of her bed, settling down on the edge with Regina in his lap. For a long time, they just sit there, with Prompto gently rubbing her back. He gives her as long as she needs, and waits for her to speak first, knowing her well enough to know she will do so soon enough.

“…I’m sorry…” she says softly.

“Don’t be,” Prompto says right after, kissing her temple softly. “You’ve done nothing wrong; Iris was being way too pushy, there…”

She nods against his chest, huddles a little closer and breathes a little easier, more at ease than she had been only a few minutes ago. This makes Prompto smile as he tucks her head under his chin, rubbing her back softly.

…he doesn’t want to bring it up, yet… but he knows he has to…

“…Sweetheart?”

Regina doesn’t answer, but she does lift her head. It’s enough of an answer for now, he decides.

“Who did you mean when you said ‘Papa’?”

She tenses in his arms, and she bites her lip, worries at it and she looks anywhere but at him. He doesn’t ask again; he gives her the chance and the time to find the answer she needs, because she obviously doesn’t know how to reply to that. It’s okay, though; Prompto’s prepared to give her however long she needs to find the answer.

“…promise you won’t be mad?”

“Why would I be mad, sweetie?”

“…just… promise?”

Is it really so bad? He doesn’t know, but he nods his head. “I promise, princess; I won’t get mad at you.”

This calms her enough, and she relaxes against him further. Still, it takes her a minute before she’s able to say anything.

“…I… I took a picture from the picture book…”

Picture book…? …wait… one of his albums?

“What picture?”

Regina squirms out of his arms, and then crawls across her bed toward her pillow, reaches under it, searching, and then she, tentatively, scoots back over. She’s holding a photograph in her small hands, holding it so he _just_ can’t see what it is, and she’s looking at it while biting her lip. She hesitates, but she finally holds it out to him.

Curious now, Prompto gently takes the piece of paper from her and he flips it around to see what has her so worried that she’s in trouble.

And his breath catches in his throat.

It’s a picture of himself… and Noct… at the outlook of Lestallum, with the setting sun behind them and just barely peeking over the Disc of Cauthess as they both smiled at the camera, himself a little wider (okay, it’s grinning, shut up…) than Noct. He shot this one the first time they came to Lestallum, when they’d spent a good part of the day just exploring the city. They’d ended up at the outlook and of course, with the setting sun like that, Prompto hadn’t been able to resist the perfect photo-op.

And, of course, he’d insisted on pulling Noct into the shot, too.

…wait…

“…this is who you meant?” he asks, almost not believing what his mind was telling him.

“…I just…” Regina squeaks, wringing her hands in her shirt, twisting the material in ways it shouldn’t be twisted. “You… you looked so… so happy… I… I just thought… I… um…”

Prompto almost can’t believe what he’s hearing… did his little girl figure out the one thing he’d been trying so very hard to keep a secret from everyone for so long? He was sure Ignis might’ve figured it out as well (it was Ignis, so of _course_ he would’ve known…), but Prompto was pretty sure they’d not been _that_ obvious…

Because, whether they liked it or not… Noctis was the crown prince of Lucis; there was no way they could’ve been together. On top of that, the sudden betrothal to Lady Lunafreya hadn’t made it any easier and had only made it a requirement to hide the fact that he and Noct were in a relationship with each other since… well, high school.

It’d been so hard… _so_ hard to keep it a secret when King Regis sent them out to Altissia, to prepare for Noct’s wedding to Lady Lunafreya… there was almost no time to spend together with Noct alone, because they were always either camping outdoors, or sharing a hotel room with all of them to cut costs…

Prompto had learned on that first day on their trip to treasure each moment he could get alone with Noct… capture as many moments as he could on film… so that, hopefully, he’d have some good memories to fill his dreams when it was all over…

Except… when it ended… he was more devastated than he ever would’ve believed possible…

“…Regina…” He breathes her name; it’s all he can manage.

“I… I’m sorry… I—”

“You don’t have to apologize, sweetie,” he murmurs, pulling her closer and gently kissing her forehead again. “But… tell me; why exactly do you call him ‘Papa’? You’ve… never met him before, right?”

“I… I know…” Regina murmurs and she sniffles a bit. “But… you… you look so happy… always with him and… and it’s never like… like with Iggy or Gladdy… I… I dunno… just… I was just… thinking that…”

He smiles at her, gently moving her messy bangs out of her eyes (he may have to do something about those, but they look so adorable on her). “It’s okay, princess…” he assures her. “But I have to ask… you know that… well, families are normally a mother, a father and then kids, right?”

“…uh-huh.”

“And it doesn’t… bother you that Daddy is happy with… another man?”

“…nuh-uh.”

“Really?”

Regina doesn’t answer right away, as she seems to think about what she should say about that. But in the end, she says, slowly and unsure: “If… if he makes you happy… then that’s okay… right?” The question is so innocent… and the only reason it’s even possible for it to be so innocent is because she’s a child.

He smiles at her and he nods softly. “Yeah…” he tells her, ruffling her hair. “It doesn’t matter… it only matters if you both love each other.”

She’s smiling again, and he’s glad that she appears to be feeling better. And Prompto can’t help but smile back at her, feeling as if a great weight has lifted off of his chest, as if he’d been waiting for this very moment where he could admit—not just to himself, but to someone else as well—that he had been (and still was, to be fair) head over heels in love with Noctis Lucis Caelum.

“…um… Daddy?”

“Hm? Yes, princess?”

For some reason, she’s hesitating, and he’s not sure why, but he remains patient and waits for her to ask what’s clearly on her mind.

“…when is Papa coming home?”

…and his heart just… stops… for a brief moment…

_When is Papa coming home?_

“…Daddy…?”

Regina’s voice pulls him back to the present and he blinks – and gasps when he realizes that he’s crying. He moves his hand up to wipe the tears away, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down, but the tears just kept coming, no matter how many times he wiped them away. They just kept coming as the memories just kept resurfacing from the depths of his mind.

And suddenly small hands are reaching for his face and wiping away the tears, and he blinks down at his little girl, and he notices immediately that her own eyes are shining with tears, even though she’s trying so very hard to hold them back. And he realizes then that—oh Six…—she already knows…

She knows he’s _not_ coming back…

“H-honey… sweetie… I…” He tries to talk… he really does… but… he can’t… “Papa is… that is… he’s…”

He can’t say it… he just… _can’t_ …

Prompto takes a shaky breath, and then he reaches out and pulls Regina to him, holding her firmly against him, and she hugs him back just as firmly around his neck, standing in his lap on his thighs on her toes. She continues to hold him as tightly as he’s holding her, and both are breathing heavily, trying to contain their tears, but they flow regardless, trailing burning hot rivers along his cheeks, and he feels hers burning into his shoulder.

He doesn’t sob, but he cries as he holds on tightly to his little girl, who clings to him in turn, crying just as silently as him, as they both wordlessly comfort each other.

 

“…Daddy?”

“Yes?”

They’re lying on Regina’s bed, huddled up together for support, their tears all shed and their eyes red and puffy, but they say nothing of it and focus instead on each other’s company.

“…can… can you tell me ‘bout Papa? …please?”

With anyone else… he would’ve said ‘no’. He would’ve blatantly refused to bring up Noct and the precious memories he has of his old lover, not wanting them to be tarnished or to bring him only pain as he comes to the chilling realization that those moments will never return again. Moments that he holds so dearly to his heart, and cherishes more than anything else he’s ever held close to him…

But Regina isn’t ‘anyone else’…

He smiles softly at his little girl and as he runs a hand through her hair, he murmurs: “Sure, sweetie… what do you wanna know?”

She’s smiling again, as she thinks briefly, before she asks, trying _soo_ hard to sound cheery: “How… how did you meet…?”

He laughs softly. “How we met? Well… we met in school once before… but we didn’t really become friends until high school, though… coz… well… hahah. Believe it or not, but Daddy used to be _fat_.”

“What!? No way!!”

“Hahah. Yes way, dear,” Prompto laughs, enjoying the look of surprise on her face. “Daddy didn’t have many friends… and I only met Papa in passing. We never really talked before… until one day I found this little puppy… he was wounded, so I took him home to take care of him and until I could find his owner…”

Regina hangs on to his every word, and he continues to speak to her of all his experiences with Noct, and he smiles as he remembers it all. And for a moment… he’s back there… back with Noct… back when everything was just fine…

And while, despite all the sadness he’s gone through so long ago, he wouldn’t trade his current situation for the world… he can’t help but wish for Regina’s ‘Papa’ to be there with them…

If only… if only…

**Author's Note:**

> And a little more Promptis references for you all. -passes out tissues-


End file.
